Inc. 500 – 91% Actively Engaged In Social Media

I send out a weekly ‘newsletter’ of the 10 most compelling things that I read each week to a small group of people internally and some of my agency and media partners outside of Intel. One of the topics that I included was the title of this post. Inc. Magazine released a study last week that I found to be very interesting. What the study shows is that of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the U.S. an overwhelmingly large percentage of them are actively engaged with Social Media disciplines, tools, and/or activities:

“According to the study, social media usage by companies on the Inc. 500 has grown in the past year, with 91 percent of companies reporting that they use at least one social media tool, compared with 77 percent of companies surveyed in 2008. Of the six social media categories covered in the survey, the one that continues to be the most familiar to Inc. 500 companies is social networking, with 75 percent saying that they are “very familiar with it.”

What’s interesting about this study is that all companies surveyed were privately held – perhaps showing a higher tolerance for ‘risk’ associated with Social Media activities. Another quote that shows where the motivation lies for adopting new and compelling marketing disciplines states very simply:

“Inc. 500 companies are focused on doing anything they can to grow faster and social media is an innovative tool that may give them an edge over their competition”

In summary – stay on the forefront of marketing innovation to ensure you’re message stands out over the competition. Pretty simple, but many public companies are slow to recognize this and the value that Social Media contributes to that leadership message…